The Portuguese government said on Thursday it does not know whether 50 hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas include Portuguese citizens who should be released under the four-day truce agreed with Israel.
“We have several hostages of Portuguese nationality. (…) We want the unconditional release of all hostages, but it is clear that we are especially very interested in those who have Portuguese nationality. Every case is different, every hostage situation has different specificities, but we are interested in everyone. We also mediate with the Red Cross and we will work with authorities from other countries that can have some influence, so that these hostages of Portuguese citizens and all others are released,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Business João Gomes Cravinho has reached the final point of his visit to Israel after meeting with relatives of hostages in Tel Aviv.
“We know that a set of criteria has been drawn up and we do not know if these will include 50 Portuguese nationals. We expect that all Portuguese will be released, but obviously, looking at the identified characteristics, there will ultimately be only one person who can be released in the coming days. We still have no guarantee on that,” he added.
According to the agreement between Hamas and Israel, priority will be given to women and minors when releasing hostages.
The Portuguese minister highlighted the “tremendous courage” of the hostages’ families, some of whom are also going through a period of mourning after relatives were killed.
“I told them that we would of course do everything we can to facilitate the release of these hostages,” he emphasized.
Speaking about his trip to Israel, which he made together with his Slovenian colleague Tanja Fajon, Gomes Cravinho said that the conversation he had this morning with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen was “a conversation between friends”, adding : “And it is between friends that sometimes hard and difficult truths have to be told.”
“We had a conversation, which I would say very candidly, with the Israeli minister, to whom I expressed my condolences, solidarity and deep concern about the attitude towards Gaza and the number of deaths and violence in Gaza. That is why we had points of convergence and points of divergence, but I emphasized how important we attach to finding a path to peace, and that the use of violent means is not the best path,” said the head of Portuguese diplomacy.
João Gomes Cravinho also had “a very useful meeting” with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, which allowed him to “think about the future”.
“Thinking about what the nature of Gaza might be a year from now, for example, thinking about what role there might be for international intervention. The road is not easy, but it was extremely interesting to start identifying some of the elements to use. this tragic situation to project a dynamic of peace,” he stated.
After the trip to Israel, which also included a visit to the ‘kibbutz’ of Sfar Aza, in the south of the country, one of the communities attacked by Hamas on October 7, the Portuguese and Slovenian ministers went to the West Bank, where they will meet with the Palestinian counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki, and Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh.
The four-day ceasefire came into effect today at 7 a.m. (5 a.m. in Lisbon) after more than a month and a half of war, as part of an agreement to release 50 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners.
The war broke out when members of Hamas invaded southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking hostages including babies, women and the elderly, as well as soldiers.
According to the latest report from local authorities, the Israeli bombing of Gaza, now in its seventh week, has so far killed about 15,000 people in this poor Palestinian enclave, mostly civilians, and injured 33,000, and 1.7 million people. been displaced. the UN.
Source: DN
